Machine for trimming leather and other fabrics.



J. H. NANGLE. MACHINE FOR TRIMMING LEATHER AND OTHER FABRICS.APPLICATION FILED DEC.22, I9I3.

I, 1 60,946. I Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

IIIIIIIIIIIIII COLUMBIA PLANOOIAPH CO'HWASHINGTON, D. C.

.I. H. NANGLE.

MACHINE FOR TRIMMING LEATHER AND OTHER FABRICS.

APPLICAT ION FILED DEC. 22. I933.

Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

m a. Qg k.

COLUMBIA PH CO.,WASH|NOTD N, D. C

J. H. NANGLE.

MACHINE FOR TRIMMING LEATHER AND OTHER FABRICS. APPLICATION men 0Ec.22.'I913.-

1 1 60,946. Patented Nov. 16,1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- 90 7 1 1 COLUMBIA PLANOl-IRAPH 50-,WASNINGTON, D. C.

JAMES H. aware; or LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

re n/i3.

MACBINE non TRiM M I NG LEATHER AND OTHER FABRICS.

To all whom/ itmag concern: U I

, Be it known that I, JAMnsj H. NANGLE, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Lynn in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts,have invented certain new and useful Improvements inyh/Iachines forTrimming Leather and other Fabrics, of which the following is aspecification.

The present invention relates to a machine designed for trimming sheetsof leather or other material by cutting off the edges thereof, suchmachine being particularly designed and adapted to trim irregularsheets,,of leather and othermaterials such as tanned hides and skins,fabrics, and so forth, to cut off those portions of the edges which arecurled back or are torn and ragged, and to cut sheets of any descriptionto a pattern.

The machine is therefore designed that it will permit the hide or otherpiece ofv leather or fabric so moved and turned that the cutting maytake place in a. line follow.- ing the outline of the piece or theoutlin of a pattern; and with feeding meanswhich propel. the hide orother sheet and also per: mit the sheet to be turned freely about thepoint of its engagement with the feeding means. I

.The features above mentioned are those which particularly adapt; themachine to serve its designed purpose.

Other novel features of greater or lessimportance are also. embodied in.the machine as will appear, inthe following detailed de-, scription, and.all of such features are claimed as parts of my present invention totheextent towhich such-featuresare novel and employc novel principles-ornovel details of constructions, arrangement, and operation. 4 U 1 In theaccompanying drawings,Figure 1 is a side elevationof a leather cuttingmachine embodying my invention in the form at present best known'to me.Fig. 2 'isa plan view of saijdmachine. Fig.3 is a front elevation of,saidmachine. Fig. l is .a rear elevation of so muchof the machine ascom-1 prises the driving mechanism for the automatically moving parts ofthe machine Fig. 5 represents a detail ofthe machine,

being a vertical section on the line 5&5 of Fig. 1 and showing the meansfor feeding the work. Fig. Gris a sectional elevation' of the parts attheleft of line 6-6 in Fig. 1, showing apart, ofthe feeding means and aguide for the cutter. Fig. is a plan view Specificationjof LettersPatent.

r temedrew. 16, 1915.

' (Application filed December 22, 1913. Serial No. 808,085.

ofthe work table of the machine. Fig. Sis

across sectional view of said table taken on line 8 8 of Fig. 7. i

The. same reference characters indicate the. same parts in all thefigures.

The frame of the machine here illustrated comprises a base; 10, a'columnor support 11,

and a second column or upright 12, these parts serving to supporttheoperating and driving elements of the machine and being illustrative ofany meansj'or elements which might be used for the same purposes. .Thebase includes as apart of its structure, or has connected withit, atable-l3 whereon the work ll,Wl1 l0l1 is.) ordinarily atanned skin 7orshide', but may be any other regular or irregular sheet of leather orother material, is-.,supported with capability of movement over itssupporting surface. 1 When placed onl'the table. in position foroperation the work is gripped between feeding elements 15. and 16,01which the former is preferably a Wheel having a roughened, corrugated.or

toothed periphery, and the latter is a disk I will; here-insertiadescription of the means for so adjusting the feed wheel. Said feedwheel is mounted rotatablyv on a stud 18 carried byanarm 19, which ismounted to turn on a shaftQOas aipivot, said shaft QO being a horizontalshaft extending from front to rear of the machine having its bearings at21and22 in the opposite ends of the machine. base and carrying a gear 23for driving it. Arm-191s thus capable of swinging up and down n avertical plane, and 1t is so swungby a wedgepiece 2 l, whichaprmjectsthroughthe front of the base, in, which it ismounted withcapability of sliding, endwise, and has. a cam or wedgesurface25 at itsend underlying andengaging the arm 19 below the. stud 18. An-adjustingscrew 26. is threaded into .the front wall of the base near the wedge 24and has a groove provided between collars, ,which j receives a fork, 27fasrtenedto thewedge, whereby turning of the screw has the eflect ofmoving thewedge in orout and of correspondingly raisingbr band knife.Located in this groove is a lowering the feed wheel. A. spring 28 isprovided to put'a tension on the screw and thereby produce I The feed\vh'celis rotated by the shaft through a pinion 29 keyedupon saidshaft,- an idler;

gear 30 with which pinion 29 meshes and a gear meshing vi'th' the idler30' and fas-w The complemental feed disk 16, which is also a .presserfootisvcarried by a rotating upright" shaft 32 which is held rota tablyin bearings 33 and 3% forming part ofpiec'e 35, which may beconveniently called forthe purposes of this description a" holder forthe shaft. 32. Said shaftis provided with an adjustable collar 36 and issurrounded by spring-37 located between said collar and the upperbearing 33, and being placed under suitable tension bythe adjustmentofcollar 36 so that'itvpres'ses the combined feeddisk and presser foot 16uponthe work. The holder 35 is pivoted to bracket or support 38 whichformsa part of the column 11," its pivot being shown at'1'39"and"b'eingequipped with a clamp screw 40. Thereby 'the'holder 35 may be swungabout'a horizontal axis sons to alter the-point in the face of the disk16" which acts on the work. Bycausing more or less of the area of thedisk tooverlap the feed wheel, the area of the part of the'w'ork grippedthereby may be varied. The location of the 'piv t"39 is such that theshaft 32 is somewhat inclined to the table,

whereby only that side of the disk 16 which coeperates with the wheel 15engages the work, and those parts of the disk which travel in otherdirections than the feeding direction do not rub 'on the work.

The-cutter'or' cutting element of the *mae' i chine is a band knife41,1which passesabout cured thereto in any desired manner, for

the guiding and driving pulleys 42 and 43, the latter pulley being belowthe table.

' Thusth'e band knife crosses the table, and

the operating stretchtravels close to" the appears from Figs.--1, Land8. 1 That portion of the? work table immediately adjacent to'the'cutting" and feeding elements" iscoins posed of plates Maria 45', whichcover an opening in the table and aredetachably se-j instance, asshown"in Fig. 7 Openings are left in theseplates for the passage of the bandknife and for the feed wheel 15 to extend through, andinthe plate 45 isan undercut groove extending between'th'e iecarions of. the oppositestretches of the friction 7 between; the threads of the screw and theintermeshing' threads 1n the machlne base.

knife holder or backer consisting of a slide ter and the knife 41." Thebar and backing slide 46 guide the operative part of the lmife in anexactly defined location, but the slideis capable of yielding, thusallowing the knife to yield when necessary. A further guiding ors'teadying device toprevent the thrust of the advancing work fromdisplacingthe knife is provided in the form of two disks 53 mounted onastud 54:, which iscarried by an adjustable armor bracket 55' on the'holder' or bearing "piece, 35. These disks admit the back edge of theknife be tweenthem, and their hub portions,- or the stud. 54, engage theback ;of the knife at a slight distance above the location of thework,preventing theknife from yielding in consequence of the pressure ofthe work against its cutting edge. d sks a' single-dlsk havlng a perpheral Instead of two groovemay be used'with the same effect. A

spring 56"bears on one of the disks for causing the disks to engagebothsides of the knife but without causing them to bind. The bracketcarrying the guide disks is fastenedto the bearing piece 35 by a-'screw57, which passes through a slot 58 inthe' bracket and is threaded intothe bearing piece Still another 'guideyor'guard, for the knifeisprovided to revent the same from working olfthe gui e pulley' {i2 whenacted upon bya grinding wheel 59, hereinafter described, and also for'holding the knife "against the grinding wheel during the grindingoperation. This combined guide and guard comprises a bracket 60 securedto the'side of the column 11 and having two fingers'61, which'arerespectively on opposite sides ofthe plane of the grinding wheel andproject close to the knife on the opposite side thereof from the grinding wheel as shown in'FigL'1.-These fingers support ,the knife againstdeflection when the grinding wheel is moved over so as to bear on theedge of the knife for sharpen5 ing. The guard to prevent the knife fromtraveling off the'pulley when'acted on "by the grinding wheel isabracket or finger 62 secured to the guide and crossing the 1 line of theknife in back of the same. -It

does not normally touchthe knife butis in position whereit will do so incase the knife should startto creep ofl' the pulley.- V erticaladjustment of the guide pulley 42- regulate the ut'ensionof' the knifeis provided by mounting the bearing stud 63 for said pulley on a slide64; which isv set into a vertical :guideway into the side of the column11 and is capable ofbeing, adjusted. Adjustments of: the slide are maintained by a screw 65 which passes through a slot 66 in the back of thecolumn 11, is threaded into the slide 64 and has'a head adapted to bindagainst the column and thereby to clamp the slide. A? locking set screw67 is providedto bear against the shank of the screw 65 to prevent thelatter from becoming accidentally loosened.

The grinding wheel 59, before mentioned, is secured upon a short shaft68 rotatably held in bearingsbi) and 70 formed in a swinging bracket orholder 71, which hasaflpivotal mounting on a pin 72. mounted on thecolumn 11. The arrangement of the bracket is such that the grindingwheel may be swung against and away from the knife. For regulating theposition of"tliegwheel and holding it against the knife I provide alever 73, which is pivoted on a .pin 74 mounted in a bracket 75 fixed totheside of the collar. Said lever has an arm 73 adapted to press againstone of the'bearings of the emery wheel shaft, and a second arm 73equipped with an adjusting screw 7 6, which bears against one side ofthe bracket 75. The arm 73 has a surface which acts as acam to move theemery wheel toward the knife when the screw 76 is screwed againstthebracket 75.

Power to drive the machine is delivered by a belt ,which passes about apulley '78 carried by a shaft 7 9, which has bearings inthe post 12 andin a bracekt 80 connected to said post. 79 carries a pinion 81whichmeshes with a large gear- 82 wherewith is connected a pinion 83 inmesh with the gear 28, previously described as beingthe driver for theshaft 20. Thus the shaft and feed wheel 15 are 7 driven at a relativelyslow speed.

The same shaft drives the upper feed disk 16 by means of a pulley 8e;and a belt 85 passing around said pulley, over guide pulleys 8Gmountedon the post 12, andaround a pulley 87 mounted loosely on theshaft32. A friction drive is given to shaftl32 by pulley 87 through a clutchconsisting of a cone secured to the shaft and a socket 89 forming partof the pulley with walls tapered in ternally to fit the outer surface ofthe; cone 88. The spring 90 interposed between the pulley and a head 91fastened to the end of the shaft holds the members of the frictionclutch in contact. T hepurpose of the clutch is to permit the operatorto vary the'speed of feeding the leather, allowingthe operator to holdback the work without causing the disk to be retarded or stopped.

moving parts of the.

Shaft- The knife is driven from the shaft 7 9 by a pulley 92about whichpasses a belt .93 running over guide pulleys 94, pivoted upon abracket95 secured'to the rear side of the machine base, and thencearound a pulley 96 fast to the shaft 97 on which thelower guidinganddriving pulley 93 for the knife is fastened. A

Another pulley 98, secured tothe s iaft 79 drives a belt 99 which passesover guide pulleys 100 mounted on an arm 101, extending from the bracket7 5, the belt also passing around a pulley 102 secured to the shaft 68of the grinding wheel.

A machine having the characteristics and elements above described iswell adapted to.

serve the purpose of trimming the edges of irregularly shaped pieces ofleather, such as skins and tanned hides, etc or other material. Theknife, being in motion, continually at any speed best suited for thework in hand, cuts with a drawing action and thus constitutes the bestpossible means for making a clean cut and leaving the trimmedcomplemental gripper being arranged close to the operative portion orstretch of the knife and so formed and arranged as to make contact. withthe work over a small area, that is, making a substantiallytangent-contact, enable the work to be turned readily so that the cutmade by the knife may followthe projections and indentations of theirregular outlineof the hide or other work piece. Evidently the tangentgripping contact of the feed means is the pivot point about which thework maybe turned or swung in the plane of the table or work support,and this pivot point is so close to the edge of the knife that suchswinging'or turning movement of the work takes place around the knife.The knife, owing to its sli ht width ermits the work to be turnedquickly enough for the required purpose so that the "trimming cut mayfollow the outlines" ofsharp indentations without removing the' 'goodmaterial at any considerable distance back fronrthe edge of thenwork.The extent of contact between the grippers and work in the direction offeedingis ap proximately or nearly the same as the width of. the knife.

Themeans for guiding the knife consisting of, the bar 51, backing piece46', and

guide disks 53prevent the flexible band knife 1 from being twisted ordeflected in any direction when the work is pressed against it andturned whilebeing fed. These guides, or

ters Patent is z their equivalents,are adjuncts having con- :siderableinfluence in adapting the machine to perform its desired function. r

I desire to have it understood that in give ing the foregoingillustration of my invention, 1 have not intended this. illustration tobe taken'as necessarily a commercial or finished machine. So far as theessential operating parts of the machine are concerned, theembodiments-of-such parts here shown are operative and complete, butit'is my intention to make modifications which may alter the generalappearance of the ma chine and particularlyof the frame thereofmaterially, but which will'not be any departur'efrom the spirit of theinvention.

' What I claim and desire to secure by Letl. A machine for trimming theedges of sheet stock, comprising a support for the stock, a cutterarranged with its edge crossing the plane of the support, means formoving said cutter sothat its edge travels in a 'direction transverse tothe support, and

work gripping and feeding means construct ed to grasp the work wlth' atangent contact close to; the cutter the cutter having a width in thefeeding direction substan-' tially as'narrow asathe extent of contact,of the work feeding means" with the work,

point in the edge of said knife, operative to feed the work in adirection transverse to that in which the operating point in the knifeedgetravels, said grasping means having a sufliciently small areaofcontact with the work, and the knife-being sufliciently narrow in thedirection of feeding, to permit the work to knife. Y

3. A machine adapted tot-rim the. edges be turned or swung around the ofhides and other'articlesofirregular out-E line comprising a knife havinga slight width fromcutting edge to back, and means 7 for gripping andfeeding the work past the knifein the .directionffromthe edge to theback thereof, said work feeding means being arranged'to grasp the workata point close to the knife edge, and constructed so thatthe area of;contact with the work is relatively small, whereby to oppose the leastpossible resistance to turning'the. work about. the area of grippingcontact (as a pivot. 1 .7

4. A machine for trimming hides and the like, [comprising a flexibleendless band knife,means for driving said knife so that aportion oftheedge thereof travelsin a straight line, work gripping and feedingmeanslocated close to said portion of the knife edge and arranged tofeed the work in a direction approximately at right angles to that atwhich said portion travels, theknife being so narrow from edge to backarranged with a stretch thereof crossing said support. approximately atright angles thereto, a work feeding wheel arranged be low said supportwith its periphery projectingthrough thesame and-above the sup-' portingsurface thereof, a complemental' pressing device arranged I over saidfeed wheel to engage the upper surface of the work, guiding. means inthe plane of the work support engaging opposite faces of the knife, andaguide above the work support bearing against. the back of the knife.

6- In a trimming machine of the character indicated, the combinationwith a work feeding means of an endless flexible band knife mounted witha portion thereof extending close to said feeding means and traveling inadirection transverse to. that in which said feeding means is1designedto feed the work, and cooperating knife guiding means locatedin closeproximity to said. feeding means arranged to engage the opposite sidesand the back of the knife, re-

spectively, to prevent twisting and other deflection thereof.

7.'In .a trimming machine the combination with a work support and acutter, of a feed wheelhaving its periphery passing across the worksupport from the side thereof. opposite to that against which the worklies, a 'movably mounted holder carrying said feed. wheel, a cam memberengaging said holder, and means for moving said cam member so as toeffect movement of vthe holder in opposite directions ina linetransverse to the work support. r Y 1 8. Inv a trimming machine, a, worksupport, a feed wheel adapted to engage the work laidagainst saidsupport, a, holder for saidfeed wheel movable back and forth in adirection transverse to the work support, a cam member operablefor somoving the holder, and flexibly arranged gearing for driving the feedwheel in any of its positions of adjustment. r

9. In a machine of the character described, an adjustable feed wheel, aholder in which said feed wheel is mounted, a drive shaft upon whichsaid holder is pivoted, gearing between said drive shaft and feed wheel,and a cam o-rwedge supporting the swing-, ing portion of saidholder andbeing adjustable to raise and lower thesame. r

10. In a machine of the character described, a work support, a feedwheel located beneath said support with its periphery projecting throughthe same, a drive shaft beneath the work support, an arm pivotedco-axially with said shaft and carrying said feed wheel, driving gearingbetween said shaft and feed wheel, maintained in mesh in all positionsof the arm by reason of the coincidence of the pivot of said arm withthe axis of the shaft, a wedge having a'cam surface underlying andengaging said arm and means for advancing or withdrawing said wedge forcausing the part of the arm which carries the feed wheel to be raisedand lowered.

11. A leather cutting machine comprising a cutter, a feed wheel and acomplemental gripper and feeding device, said complemental feedingdevice being mounted on an axis approximately perpendicular to the axisof the feed wheel and arranged so that one side of its peripheryoverlaps the feed wheel at a point close to the cutter, saidcomplemental gripper being also movable away from the feed wheel andbeing yieldingly pressed toward the latter. 7 7

12. In a cutting machine, a feeding mechanism comprising a rotatablefeed wheel, a complemental feed disk rotatable in a plane approximatelyat right angles to the plane of the wheel and having a part of itsperiphery overlapping the periphery of the Wheel, means for positivelydriving the feed wheel, and means for frictionally driving thecomplemental disk.

13. In a machine of the character described, the combination with a worksupport, or table, of a feed wheel located below the table in a planesubstantially perpendicular thereto and having its periphery projectingthrough the table, a complemental feed disk located above the worktable, a substantially vertical shaft to which said disk is connected,located so that the edge of the disk lies over the feed wheel, saidshaft being so inclined that that portion of the disk over the feedwheel is nearer to the work table than any other part of the disk.

14. In a trimming machine, the combination with a work table and a feedwheel passing from below the table through an opening in the same, acomplemental disk arranged over the work support in a plane nearlyparallel therewith, an upright shaft carrying said disk, a holder forsaid shaft, and a post rising above the work support on which saidholder is pivotally mounted, said holder being thereby adjustable tovary the position of the disk and cause more or less of its area tooverlie the feed wheel.

15. In a trimming machine, the combination with a work support and afeed wheel presser and feed member comprising a disk arranged over thesupport and overlapping the feed wheel, a shaft to which said disk isconnected rising from the feed wheel, a support by which said shaft isheld with ability to rotate about its axis, and frictional driving meansfor rotating said shaft.

16. In a machine of the character described in combination with a feedwheel, a complemental feed disk and gripper, a rotating shaft by whichsaid complemental disk is carried, so located and arranged that the,disk occupies a plane approximately perpendicular to the plane of thefeed wheel and overlaps the periphery of the feed wheel, a holder forsaid shaft mounted pivotally on an axis perpendicular to the axes ofboth the feed wheel and the disk, whereby the distance by which the diskextends across the feed wheel may be varied.

17. I11 a machine of the character described, in combination with a feedwheel, a complemental feed disk and gripper, a rotating shaft by whichsaid complemental disk is carried, so located and arranged that the diskoccupies a plane approximately perpendicular to the plane of the feedwheel and overlaps the periphery of the feed wheel, a holder for saidshaft mounted pivotally on an axis perpendicular to the axes of both thefeeding wheel and the disk, whereby the distance by which the diskextends across the feed wheel may be varied, said 7 shaft being alsomovable endwise in said holder and yielding means arranged to press theshaft and disk toward the feed wheel.

18. In a machine of the character described, in combination with a feedwheel, a complemental feed disk and gripper, a retating shaft by whichsaid complemental disk is carried, so located and arranged that the diskoccupies a plane approximately perpendicular to the plane of the feedwheel and overlaps the periphery of the feed wheel, a holder for saidshaft mounted pivotally on an axis perpendicular to the axes of both thefeeding wheel and the disk, whereby the distance by which the diskextends across the feed wheel may be varied, a driving element for saidshaft and a friction clutch connected with said driving element and tosaid shaft with provision for slipping.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

JAMES H. NANGLE.

WVitnesses:

D. L. CLARK,

P. W. 'PEZZETTI.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing'the Commissioner of Patents; Washington, D. G.

